Overview

Setup takes three steps: create an account, add your domain in the dashboard, and add one CNAME record in your DNS provider. Appear begins classifying traffic within minutes of DNS propagation.

1. Create your account

Sign up at joinappear.com. No credit card required for the pilot. You will be prompted to add your first domain immediately after account creation.

2. Add your domain

In the dashboard, enter the domain you want to enable adaptive rendering on (e.g., yourcompany.com). Appear will generate a CNAME target unique to your account.

3. Add the CNAME record

In your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Route 53, Google Domains, Namecheap, etc.), add a CNAME record pointing your domain to the Appear edge target. This is a standard DNS change. It does not affect email, subdomains, or other records.

4. Verify and sync

Once DNS propagates (usually under 15 minutes, up to 48 hours in edge cases), click Verify in the dashboard. Appear will then crawl your site, generate AI response profiles for each page, and begin serving structured content to AI crawlers immediately.

What happens next

Once synced, Appear begins classifying every incoming request and serving structured content to AI crawlers. Human visitors are always proxied directly to your origin with no changes. You can monitor crawler activity, review generated content, and manage your domains from the dashboard.

For platform-specific DNS instructions, see Platform Guides.